Do I need to get a second phone line in order to have Internet from Oceanic Time Warner Cable?

NO! Oceanic’s Internet service is delivered to your computer through the same cable that brings TV into your home. That keeps your Internet affordable, too.

My kids like to watch the Discovery Channel, and often would like to get to the Discovery web site during a show. If I get Oceanic’s Internet, can they still watch TV while they are using Oceanic’s Internet to get to the web site?

Absolutely! In fact, we have heard a lot of families will keep their computer and their TV in the same room, so when a television show makes reference to more information on the web site, the kids can go to Oceanic’s Internet and investigate while the show is still playing. It’s a great technique for educational and news events. We even provide TV listings on Oceanic.com so that you can plan your family TV viewing along with using the Internet all at the same time.

You mention broadband a lot. What IS broadband and why does it matter?

Broadband connections allow more information to be transmitted in a given amount of time. It’s a bit like putting more lanes on a highway — more cars can travel on it at the same time. The benefits of having a broadband connection to the Internet are faster access to the Internet and more and varied media services than you can get on a narrowband, or ordinary phone, connection.

What is Turbo Internet?

Turbo Internet is a wonderful product for people who enjoy online activities such as video news and entertainment, online gaming, sharing photos or people who just appreciate really fast speeds! Turbo Internet offers speeds of up to 20 Mbps downstream and 2 Mbps upstream.

In my area, I can choose DSL or cable. What’s the difference?

Internet and DSL are both broadband technologies. There are many differences between them, however. The main ones are outlined below:

DSL is a telephone modem technology that gets to your house through traditional copper wiring.

Figuring out if DSL is available to you can be complex because even if an area is DSL-ready, your house or phone line may not be. Oceanic uses cable modem technology and is available to you if your home is passed by cable and your cable provider has launched it in your area.

Oceanic provides all the high-speed technology that delivers our comprehensive programming as well as a direct connection to the Internet. Since DSL only provides your connection, to get to the Internet you also have to find, and pay for, an ISP.

Oceanic provides a 30-day money back guarantee if you decide you are not happy with the service. There can be some risk with DSL – to get the lowest price for the service you must agree to lock yourself into a long-term contract even before you have seen how the service will perform.

The DSL providers say that cable modems are “shared” and will slow down when too many people in my neighborhood come online. Is that true?

Thank you for asking. Truth is, ALL Internet technologies, including DSL, are shared and no one can guarantee or control speed, due to variables inherent to the Internet. What the DSL companies want you to believe is that cable modems will slow down when more users come online and that DSL does not slow down because it is “dedicated”, not shared. There are two other things you should know about DSL and speed.

DSL slows down the further you live from their facilities.

DSL’s “dedicated” connection is only for the short distance between your home and their facilities. From that point on, it is pooled with all other traffic.

One DSL provider even built a series of marketing campaigns around this message. However, the DSL provider was instructed by a court of law to stop running the campaign because the message was not true. It is not true because a properly designed and managed cable modem system (such as Oceanic’s) accommodates the popularity of the service. It is one of Oceanic’s major priorities to take all the appropriate steps regarding design, management and capacity that maintain a high-quality, high-speed online experience for our subscribers.

I hear about computers and Internet security in the media. Can you tell me what Oceanic does to protect its users’ security?

We take security, yours and ours, seriously. For our part, we’ve designed our cable modems to deliver data only to the address that has been assigned to your computer. This prevents the interception of data that any user sends or receives. In addition, the modems we use support the encryption of data sent to and from the computer. That adds a layer of security you can’t get with phone modems. Many computers and operating systems include features that allow you to share files or printers with other computers on a home network. These features are designed to allow you to decide what, and what not, to share with other users. This sort of “sharing” has to be set up in a specific, safe way or you may be open to a security risk when you connect to the Internet via dial-up, DSL or cable modem. For this reason, Oceanic’s Internet specialists will secure file and print-sharing on your computer when installing our service. We may also recommend that you safeguard your computer with a password.

I’m not an technology expert. What sort of help and support does Oceanic offer?

It can be wildly frustrating to have a problem you can’t solve. Our world-class customer service provides many help resources available to Oceanic Internet customers:

Technical Chat– where you can chat live one-on-one with Technical Support representatives.

Technical Email Support –where you can get answers in hours, not days!

Technical Telephone Support– where you can speak directly to a Technical Support representative.

How many email accounts will I get and how do I set them up? Can I send email to anyone, or just other Oceanic Internet customers?

With Oceanic you can receive and send email to anyone, anywhere! The number of email accounts is determined by your local cable provider. When the Oceanic Internet technician installs your service, he/she will set up your email account. You will have your own Online Account Management system to create and manage the additional accounts that come with your Oceanic Internet service. This allows for sub account identities to be created and deleted as needed.

I’ve seen the Oceanic Internet computer screen at a neighbor’s house. Do I get that when Oceanic Internet is installed?

Yes! Our customized version of Internet Explorer, the browser that makes it possible to see all the great information on Oceanic Time Warner Cable and on the Internet, comes free with your Oceanic Internet subscription AND CAN BE PERSONALIZED. It has special features you won’t get anywhere else. Of course, if you choose to use a different browser, you are able to do that easily — we don’t lock you into a particular browser choice.

How does Oceanic connect to my computer?

Whether Oceanic’s technicians install your Internet or you self-install, the way it works is the same.

Coaxial cable is split outside your home. One section goes to your TV, while the other section (A) goes into the cable modem (B).

A different type of cable line (known as “Cat-5 Cable) (C) links the modem (B) to your computer (D). Your computer will have a 10Base T Ethernet card or a USB port for the cable to snap into (E).

Both the modem power supply cord (F) and your computer power supply cord (G) plug into your power strip (H) which, in turn, is plugged into your household socket.